Thoughts about libraries in general and the Palos Verdes Library District in particular...plus a few other musings!

Social networking

April 09, 2012

This very thoughtful talk by Sherry Turkle (thank you to Trent at The Simple Dollar for sharing) is well worth 20 minutes of your time. Once I got over my chagrin at how close to home many of Professor Turkle's points struck, I started to think about the role public libraries can (and already do) play in both being a place of real human connectedness and fostering the self-reflection that Professor Turkle asserts is so lacking in our world of technological hyper-connection. As we wrestle with what is our role in an increasingly digital world, we would probably be well-advised to keep this in mind.

August 09, 2010

One of the projects that took up a fair amount of my time a few weeks ago was serving as a Rater for applications to this year's Eureka Leadership Institute. This involved reviewing and rating about 60 applications for the 30 available slots. Applicants had to submit a resume, several reference letters, provide answers to four qualitative questions about leadership, and describe a project that they plan to undertake as part of the Eureka process.

One of the qualitative questions was along the lines of "What are the most pressing issues facing your library and your community and how can the library address them?" and I was stunned by the number of people who wrote only about the issues facing their library (budget pressures, short staffing, lack of awareness of library services, etc.) with no reference to the needs and issues of the community they serve and/or responded that the most important thing the library can do is make sure more people are aware of and use its services...i.e. "selling" the library or, as I have seen it put, "converting the heathen".

I don't know whether it is an indictment of the state of library education or a reflection of a "hunkering down" mentality within libraries, but it was very disappointing that so few applicants seemed to grasp that the path to success isn't convincing people how wonderful libraries are, but rather in identifying and addressing real community needs.

You don’t sell to a community. You support a community. You provide for a community. You connect a community. You mediate a community. You balance a community. You sacrifice for a community.

One of the important roles libraries can play (in both the physical and virtual worlds) is helping build communities...but as Dan Blank notes that is very different from selling something.

Sure, we need to make sure people are aware of our services and most libraries, PVLD included, invest a significant amount of time and effort in marketing our services and programs. I get worried, though, when as a profession we seem to confuse marketing with developing a deep understanding of the communities we serve and their needs and aspirations, and then connecting what we do to those needs.

June 25, 2010

I think I published an earlier version of this a year or more ago....it's been updated and I still find it a fascinating snapshot, so I thought I'd pass it along. There are definitely plenty of things for PVLD to think about as we evolve our services and work to improve how we communicate with and engage our community....

September 03, 2009

When I first started using Twitter nearly two years ago it was a novelty and I was just playing around with it but within a fairly short time, as evidenced by these blog posts from January 2008 and June 2008, it became apparent that Twitter was more than just a fun way to let people know what you are up to.

Since then Twitter, along with Facebook, has become an integral part of PVLD's communication strategy - you can follow us at http://twitter.com/pvld to get news and information about upcoming programs...but it's also become an established part of American culture and life.

Over the course of the summer, for example, a friend whose daughter had been badly injured in an accident used Twitter to keep everyone up to date on what was happening. It was easy for her to use her cell phone to post updates from the hospital and later the rehab facility and then home, and a great way for all of us to monitor progress and send messages back to the family.

I had another reminder of the value of Twitter during the brushfires of the past week, when I was able to get up-to-the-minute status updates on the fire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the other brushfires by following the Los Angeles County Fire Department on Twitter. The updates came straight to my cell phone as text messages so I could monitor the situation without being tied to my desk.

This week I was doing my usual cruise through various library and technology blogs and happened across several interesting articles that reinforced my sense that Twitter has moved into the mainstream.

Here's a post from The Librarian in Black's blog about how Best Buy is using Twitter to provide technical advice along with product promotions (with some good tips for how libraries could use Twitter more effectively).

April 16, 2009

Following my last post on the legitimization of social media I was fascinated to come across information about the YouTube Symphony Orchestra - an example of how social media can be used to connect performing artists in surprising ways.

Musicians around the world were invited to submit YouTube videos of themselves performing a piece written by composer Tan Dun specifically for this event. Thousands of submissions were received from around the world, out of which a panel of professional musicians selected the members of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Symphony members were flown to New York where they practiced together for several days and then performed Tan Dun's "Internet Symphony, Eroica" last night at Carnegie Hall.

Not being musical myself I have no idea whether the Internet Symphony and/or the performance are good, bad or indifferent but I was fascinated by the idea of using freely available social networking tools to create an orchestra from scratch...and this mashup of the individual performances is pretty cool too!

I wonder how many other ways this idea can be applied? Maybe performing a play via a mashup that stitches together video of cast members who might be scattered across the globe, or assembling a dance troupe via YouTube auditions...libraries could even do programs where they invite community members to submit videos of themselves reading poetry or performing music and then assemble the videos into a mashup and show it on a big screen or via the library website. Fun to think about!

April 13, 2009

How do you know that social media are now truly maintstream? When use of social media is recognized by academic institutions as a valid criteria for gaining tenure. The University of Maine (my husband's alma mater) recently adopted guidelines for giving academic recognition for contributions to social media - a sign that even tradition-bound institutions like universities are recognizing the legitimacy of social media.

Another sign? Encyclopedia Britannica's decision, reported in the Boston Globe, to allow subscribers to edit its contents along the lines of Wikipedia.

When even tradition-bound institutions like universities and 241-year-old encyclopedias (which, by the way, makes Britannica much older than our treasured Dewey Decimal system!) are using social media to transform concepts at the heart of their institutional identities it's a pretty clear signal that libraries should do the same...

January 22, 2009

I spend a fair amount of time reading and thinking about how libraries can use technology to expand our range of services and our reach into the communities we serve. While the use of "web 2.0" technologies by libraries is growing, the topic is not without some controversy as we wrestle with how to balance the open-ness of the social web with our professional commitment to individual privacy, whether gaming or using social networking sites are appropriate uses for library computers, and even how to provide adequate bandwidth to support streaming video.

That's why I was interested to read about two very different situations and approaches regarding the use of technology by government entities.

First, this article from the Washington Post about the current state of the technology in the White House (thanks to librarian Michael Barb for sharing). While the description is shocking in its own right, its even more shocking when contrasted to the smart and aggressive use of web 2.0/social networking tools by the Obama campaign, to Obama's obvious reliance on technology-based communication as evidenced by the great Blackberry controversy, and to the Obama teams' obvious intent open up communication between the White House and citizens as evidenced by the new www.whitehouse.gov website and Office of Public Liaison.

What a contrast to how the Air Force is harnessing social media to engage all 330,000 Air Force personnel in communicating with the public as described in this post from the Web Ink Now blog.

If the Air Force with its security concerns, classified information, and military secrets is willing to empower everyone from the newest recruit to top brass to use You Tube, Twitter, and other social networking tools to communicate not just with family and friends but with the world at large you've got to wonder what the White House, or for that matter libraries, have been afraid of!

That said, discussions like this give me hope that the Air Force won't be alone in its efforts to use social technology tools to transform the way government communicates! (Thanks Michael Sauers at the Travelin' Librarian)

January 06, 2009

We've invested a lot of time and effort (and a not insignificant amount of money), developing the PVLD website as a "virtual branch" of the library with library services available 24/7 from home or office. I'm really proud of what our Digital Services team have accomplished in terms of the look and feel of the site, the shift from traditional "databases" to online services such as Value Line, Mango Languages, and Brainfuse, the use of tools like Wordpress blogs and Flickr to both deliver content and make it available via the wider web and not just the library website, and the inclusion of social networking concepts like user reviews and ratings and instant messaging.

And then today I read two blog posts by David Lee King that made me realize how far we still have to go! The first post asks whether our online question-answering services discriminate against "a growing, younger, web-savvy customer base. Customers who *almost* have all the tools in place to simply ignore you and your grad-degreed, professional information-retrieval services. Especially if they are treated like second class customers when they ask a question using their preferred, and handy, means of communication." when we don't have easy fast ways for them to communicate with us and get timely responses via the web.

David lays out some terrific, but painful (because they hit close to home!) examples of how libraries do this - e.g. by allowing people to email in reference questions, but only committing to answer within 48 hours; by only providing online reference during "normal business hours", etc. Ouch! PVLD is guilty as charged -

We don't offer any email reference/question answering service other than via a generic "contact us" web form on our "Contact Us" page that goes to our webmaster regardless of the type of question...and we don't give any indication of how quickly questions submitted via that form will be answered. My guess is it could be days given that the staff who check the page work mostly Monday to Friday!

In addition to the generic web form the "Contact Us" page gives people the option of emailing the Library Director, or emailing the "website". Otherwise people can contact various library departments by telephone - definitely not the best option for a generation used to email and text-messaging. Reviewing this page also made me realize why I get so many questions about overdue books emailed directly to me....I'm pretty much the only option for someone who wants to email a question!

We do offer a "Chat Service" on our home page, but its only available Monday-Thursday from 1-4PM (exactly the hours when our tech-savvy younger customers are in school), and when it's offline there is no obvious alternative way to contact the library. No wonder it isn't used very much!

That bit of reflection was painful enough, and then I read this companion post on "Doin Stuff At the Library's Website" in which David lists some of the things you can do at the physical library and asks if you can also do them at the library website. PVLD's website capabilities are noted in italics.

check out a book - yes, a limited selection of audio and e-books are available for online checkout, but the process is cumbersome and requires installation of special software

read a book or magazine - books no, magazine articles yes via databases that aren't very easy to use

take notes and do research - no notetaking capability via the website, you can do research using the library databases but it isn't intuitive or easy

put a public PC on reserve for later - no - our software is capable but we only allow reservations to be made from kiosks within the library. Something to revisit.

pester the reference librarian with questions - see my comments above

check stuff out when I’m done - apart from the downloadable audio and e-books, not really. You can put things on hold, but you need to come to the library to get them.

attend a training session or a fun program - again, not really. You can learn a language using Mango Languages or get live homework help from Brainfuse but these aren't really "programs" in the sense David is talking about...we've talked about online video tutorials, webcasting story times, etc. but these remain future dreams

Again, Ouch! Is our website a great resource - absolutely. And we actually do offer some of the things David mentions further in his blog post - you can browse large parts of our collection online, and we do offer RSS feeds - but to call the website a true "virtual branch" is an overstatement.

As I thought about this I realized that the problem is not with our Digital Services team - two guys who have way more on their plate than is reasonable, and who really get what it means to compete in the web 2.0 world. The real issue is an entire library organization that (understandably given the roots of our profession) is built around delivering services within our buildings. Interacting with customers online is treated as an "extra" ...something to do after we've made sure the reference desk is staffed, the physical collection is maintained, and the in-library programs are developed.

While I absolutely believe that the physical library is both important and in no danger of becoming irrelevent any time soon, like David Lee King I also worry that if we don't find a way to stretch our resources to serve people as effectively using the Internet as we do in the library itself we run the risk of becoming irrelevant to new generations of potential customers. I'd hate for the library to be having trouble like Borders is having at the same time its online competitor Amazon.com had its best holiday season ever.

This year PVLD will be creating a new 3-year strategic plan, and I can see that figuring out how to truly make our website a virtual branch without diminishing our physical library services is not only going to be essential, it's going to force us to rethink how we do almost everything we do. Now there's a challenge for 2009!

December 22, 2008

I've been spending some time today sorting through the piles on my desk trying to create some order before I head off on vacation. There is nothing worse than coming back from time off to a chaotic office....and somehow it is even worse when the return to work coincides with the start of a new year.

As I've waded through the mounds of paper I've been thinking about what our staff and volunteers have accomplished in the space of 12 months and it is truly amazing -

We launched a new website, online catalog and Integrated Library System (the software that supports all of our library operations from purchasing books to issuing library cards to checking items in and out). Any one of these would be a major project on their own, and to do them all at the same time is a real accomplishment and required the coordinated efforts of people from every department!

Our IT department upgraded all of the public computers across PVLD, added additional workstations for the library catalog and databases, increased our Internet bandwidth using a new service provider, installed several new computer servers including our first using the Linux operating system, brought our public printing services in-house to improve customer service.

The Digital Services department not only led the implementation of the new website but implemented new online services including the Value Line and Morningstar investment services, the Brainfuse online homework help service, Mango Languages, and more. The Digital Services team also gave PVLD a presence on Facebook and Twitter, helped the Peninsula Friends of the Library establish their web pages and blog, worked with other PVLD departments to establish their department blogs, and began planning for the next versions of the website and online catalog which will go live in 2009.

Staff at all locations worked hard to improve our library collections by removing dated materials and reorganizing various areas to make them more accessible to and easily browsed by our customers. New reference sections were created at both the Malaga Cove and Miraleste Libraries, staff at Malaga Cove began the creation of a separate biography section (a project that will be replicated at the other libraries), paperbacks were added to the library catalog, the music CD section at Peninsula Center was reorganized by type of music instead of an esoteric numbering system, we added collections of video games for circulation, and more. This doesn't sound like much but it involves a LOT of work!

We sustained all of our popular ongoing programs and events from story times to book groups at all libraries to the Malaga Cove history discussion group, chess clubs, and origami club to the record-breaking Summer Reading program to holiday music concerts at all of the libraries to the monthly foreign films in partnership with Chadwick school to the annual Art in our Library art show. As if that weren't enough we added lots of new programs and events including -

An antiques appraisal event at Malaga Cove

"Tuesdays at the Annex" programs for older adults

"Mondays at Miraleste" teen programs at the Miraleste Library

Expansion of the popular American Girls Teas to all libraries with a total attendance of over 520 people this year!

Introduction of "Play Dates at the Library" at Malaga Cove

A Chinese story time and other kids' programs in partnership with the South Bay Chinese School

The first annual Artisan Faire at Malaga Cove

Scrapbooking Clubs at both Malaga Cove and Miraleste

Lots of exciting activities for teens at the Annex

"Web 2.0" classes on blogging, Facebook, and Flickr

And more!

In addition to handling all of the set ups and clean ups associated with these programs and keeping all of our libraries clean and in great shape, the Facilities Department also carried out several enhancement projects at Malaga Cove including electrical upgrades, installation of a new fire and security alarm system, restoration of the magazine and newspaper reading area (thanks to a generous gift from the Palos Verdes Woman's Club) and refurbishment of the Tower Room (thanks to a generous gift from volunteers Pat and Bill Foltz). Facilities Manager Erich Widmann also worked with our architect and staff to develop schematic level designs for the proposed expansion and renovation of the Miraleste Library.

The Passport Services team introduced Saturday passport hours as a way of providing more convenient hours for families and generating additional revenue, and are taking turns working Saturdays to support this service.

The Friends of the Library made many improvements to their operations, including hiring their first employee - part-time Campaign Coordinator Georgia Case. They also improved their online presence through new web pages and a blog, launched their first ever end-of-year appeal to members and donors, introduced a Friends membership card and changed from a calendar-year to a rolling 12-month membership period, seeded an endowment fund, did a lot of planning for the capital campaign for upgrades to the Malaga Cove and Miraleste Libraries, and continued to grow their revenues from book sales and the library shop.

We particpated in a number of State Library initiatives. Branch Manager Jennifer Addington and Customer Service/Circulation Manager Eve Wittenmyer were selected to attend the first ever Eureka Leadership Institute for emerging California library leaders, making PVLD one of only 3 libraries across the state (and the only small library system) to have two staff members selected. Adult Services Manager Debra Petersen and Librarian Louise Beebe successfully applied for a $20,000 grant to develop services for Baby Boomers who want to start or grow a business, the Young Readers Department received a second $5,000 grant to continue the Early Learning for Families program at the Malaga Cove Library, and Coordinator of Volunteer Services Dori Medina was selected to serve on an advisory panel for a statewide initiative to improve volunteer engagement with libraries.

Staff, volunteers, and library supporters successfully mobilized to protest the threat that the State would "borrow" local property tax revenues (which make up 87% of PVLD's budget).

...And while all of that was going on we served the over 650,000 people who passed through our doors and checked out 845,000 items!

Whew! What a tribute to our amazing staff, and to the volunteers who give 28,000 hours of their time to PVLD each year! And just wait until you see what is in store for 2009....

I'll be on vacation through New Year's Day, so this will be my last post until then. Best wishes for the holiday season!